such a desert and such a people, is a novelty in
our country, and excites Asiatic, not American ideas. Interior basins,
with their own systems of lakes and rivers, and often sterile, are
common enough in Asia; people in the elementary state of families,
living in deserts, with no other occupation than the mere animal
search for food, may still be seen in that ancient quarter of the
globe; but in America such things are new and strange, unknown and
unsuspected, and discredited when related. But I flatter myself
that what is discovered, though not enough to satisfy curiosity,
is sufficient to excite it, and that subsequent explorations will
complete what has been commenced."

"This account of the Great Basin, it will be remembered, belongs
to the Alta California, and has no application to Oregon, whose
capabilities may justify a separate remark. Referring to my journal
for particular descriptions, and for sectional boundaries between good
and bad districts, I can only say, in general and comparative terms,
that, in that branch of agriculture which implies the cultivation of
grains and staple crops, it would be inferior to the Atlantic States,
though many parts are superior for wheat, while in the rearing of
flocks and herds it would claim a high place. Its grazing capabilities
are great; and even in the indigenous grass now there, an element
of individual and national wealth may be found. In fact the valuable
grasses begin within one hundred and fifty miles of the Missouri
frontier and extend to the Pacific Ocean. East of the Rocky Mountains,
it is the short, curly grass, on which the buffalo delight to feed
(whence its name of buffalo), and which is still good when dry and
apparently dead. West of those mountains it is a larger growth, in
clusters, and hence called bunch grass, and which has a second or fall
growth. Plains and mountains both exhibit them; and I have seen good
pasturage at an elevation of ten thousand feet. In this spontaneous
product, the trading or traveling caravans can find subsistence for
their animals; and in military operations any number of cavalry may be
moved, and any number of cattle may be driven, and thus men and horses
be supported on long expeditions, and even in winter in the sheltered
situations.

"Commercially, the value of the Oregon country must be great, washed
as it is by the North Pacific Ocean, fronting Asia, producing many
of the elements of commerce, mild and healthy in its cl